About Daniel
Daniel Smolen is a licensed clinical social worker with 30 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties. He works with concerns like family and parenting strain, anger, LGBT issues, trauma and abuse, and self-esteem struggles. He also supports people facing social anxiety, self-harm thoughts, and challenges common to young adults.
Daniel keeps sessions straightforward and practical. He treats each person as the expert on their own life and looks for strengths to build on.
How Daniel works
Conversations focus on real problems and clear steps that can be tried between sessions. He uses approaches that encourage new thinking and present-moment awareness. In practice he combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with mindfulness tools.
That means identifying unhelpful thoughts, testing them, and practicing small behavior changes. Mindfulness adds breathing and attention skills to reduce reactivity and increase calm in stressful moments. Over three decades he has worked with a wide range of concerns, including blended family dynamics, caregiver stress, communication problems, and post-traumatic stress.
He also addresses disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and self-love work for people wanting to change how they relate to themselves. Sessions are offered in English and delivered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Daniel asks people to complete a short matching questionnaire to get started and then schedule sessions according to his availability.
Daniel lists 2 ways of working on the entry:
What Daniel works with
The areas below are the ones Daniel selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Anger management
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 30 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How CBT and Mindfulness Work Online
Daniel draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness techniques in online work. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts, testing whether they are true, and practicing small behavior changes to reduce anxiety and depression. It is useful for worry, social anxiety, low mood, and communication problems.Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing exercises that reduce reactivity and improve focus on the present moment. Those skills help with stress, anger, trauma-related flashbacks, and building self-compassion in everyday life.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Daniel will listen to your goals and preferences, explain how each method might help, and tailor the plan together. He adjusts techniques over time based on what works for you.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make therapy more flexible. Video lets you keep a visual connection, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits quick check-ins, and messaging supports brief updates or reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving, and other commitments.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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